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epicsandwich301 · 2 months

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So... Hotel Hazbin, huh?

I'd rate it like 7/10. Nice casual watch.

Now, WARNING!!! My opinion:

Chapter 1. story

It's alright. I'm glad it doesn't take itself seriously most of the time. With that said, I don't really understand why writers thought bringing up certain themes would be a good idea, but it's not my place to criticize it on this decision. What I can mention is that sometimes it's hard to understand whenever something important is happening or not, so I mayhaps missed something. But I like the main idea, characters, plot points, lore, ect.

Chapter 2: artstyle

When I was just starting watching this show I heard a lot of people saying "character designs are too complicated" or "the artstyle sucks" But you know how many characters were too complicated for me? ONE. Those were Husk's wings that dazzled in my eyes, in a bad way.

What people should be talking about more is how LOCATIONS are designed. Because, I feel hell is too bright. And I don't mean it's too red. I mean it's like... Too clean. I'd imagine place full of sinners to use less saturated colours. In my opinion, it would help characters stand out more and make the atmosphere a bit darker, and if I recall correctly, a lot of more serious/important moments happened outside. So yeah, I'd prefer more mud and dirt around the place.

Also I feel like I'd be lying if I didn't mention Vox's(?) design. I don't like his face, I'll be honest. I feel like it's a missed opportunity of adding interesting visuals to him, but hey. Maybe we'll have more stuff later? Who knows.

Chapter 3: representation

Now the big stuff. I've heard the main person behind the project doesn't like t-spectrum that much. I don't know if this statement is 100% truth or not, but if it is, it shows.

It's great this series has gay/pan/ace/lesbian/bi/ect characters, but lack of they/thems or trans folks is noticeable... And it saddens me a little, personally. I'm not going to hate on the creator for that, but I will say I wish this show had at least one nb/trans person in it. And I'm more than confident that there would be a way to implement such character with the correct time period in mind.

With that said, I feel like queer relationships were shown in a good way. I especially like Vaggie/Charlie's dynamic.

Chapter 4: dialogue

Sometimes I felt like people just said stuff a bit out of character. Like, I wouldn't expect Charlie to swear. Also I feel like Adam was acting unacceptable in court and should've been criticised by Sera(?) but that's just nitpicky. Lots of people said the dialogues are too vulgar but... We're in hell?..

Chapter 5: overall opinion

Honestly, this show is criticised a bit too heavily. It doesn't take itself seriously, y'all can relax. As far as I'm aware creator of this show isn't liked by the public but some people take it to extreme levels. Yeah, it's far from perfect and I feel like it could've done a lot of stuff differently, but it isn't that bad. Animation is nice, voice acting is nice too. (Vaggie's VA made me like their character, same with Adam. Didn't save Charlie tho, she's annoying lol) Would I recommend watching it? Eh, if you have free time and don't wanna think too much.

#long post #omg I had something to say about it after all #maybe controversial #but idc about drama and don't know shit so I'm unaware of almost everything behind the scenes #yep

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sapphicbookclub · 6 months

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Author Spotlight: Amanda McNeil

This week, we're highlighting Amanda McNeil, author of the current club read Bloemetje. This essay is titled Depicting Queer Families in Fairy Tales: My Journey from the 90s and Y2k to a Thumbelina Retelling - we hope you enjoy!

I’m queer and bisexual but growing up in the 1990s and early 2000s I didn’t have the words to articulate either. The possibility of being gay or lesbian was acknowledged in my small town. My high school debated the military’s Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy. While it had a Gay Straight Alliance, it was both very small and, as far as I was aware, had no one in it who was out. My only exposure to someone out and living their life, then, was the media - primarily the tv shows Will & Grace and Friends. Both problematic in their own ways, and yet they made me aware that it was possible to be something other than straight and live a life that made you happy. But because of the culture’s monosexual biphobia, I thought that the only options besides straight were lesbian and gay. (And thus, for me, as a woman….lesbian.)

I knew I wasn’t a lesbian because I absolutely felt sexual attraction to men. I was so certain about that, I gaslit myself about how I felt about women. I told myself that I simply admired Christina Aguilera. I was only drawn to the woman in the red dress in The Matrix because she was wearing red and was supposed to catch our eye. I only identified with villainous (and queer-coded) characters like Shego in Kim Possible. They had more interesting plots than the heroes (ignore that I had similar feelings about Kim Possible herself….) And this is only considering the lack of awareness of my bisexuality. I knew that I wasn’t the heternormative woman, but the only way I could articulate that was by saying I was a feminist. Now of course you can be a queer feminist, but in retrospect most things I was saying I was a feminist about were actually expressions of my queer orientation. I wanted to exist outside of society’s mandates. I wanted to simply be myself.

Even at my liberal arts university, it took until my junior year to encounter bisexuality as an identity and realize that was me. There was a word for how I felt. It took a few more years after that to start embracing the word queer. These two words together define who I am. And in those years I started to build my own queer community.

The years passed, and my friends and I all started to form our own family units. And I’m seeing what that looks like for queer people. Queer families in all our incredible varieties are not as present in the media, even today with better representation. We do now sometimes see two women being moms or two men being dads, but other permutations are not as clear.

I view any going against heteronormative expectations as innately queer. The many ways this can be done is evident in my own family and in my friends’. My marriage is to a man, and at first glance we seem heteronormative, but we’re automatically a queer marriage because I am queer. We’ve also been married for eight years and have no children. One of my friends (who is also a bisexual woman) is married to a trans man, and they have two children that they had with fertility assistance. A friend has a normative looking marriage but it is in fact an open marriage. I’ve listened to queer people wrestle with whether to have children through fertility assistance or adoption. And even though I don’t have kids myself, I am the aunty to many children, and the godmother to a biracial little one with two moms.

As my friends began having children, I started to wonder what sort of representation might they be seeing these days? And my mind jumped to fairy tales specifically, because I so loved them myself when I was a little girl. There are an increasing number of fairy tale retellings showing the princess looking for a princess or the prince looking for a prince. While this is important representation, they don't illuminate the beautiful diversity in queer families. They often seem to depict a reality where you grow up in a heteronormative family, come out, and then ride off into the sunset. There’s not a glimmer of what it looks like for kids to grow up embraced in a community that normalizes queerness in all its flavors. The feeling I have when gathered with my queer friends, their spouses, and their kids is vastly different from how I feel when I’m the only queer family in the room. While queer families do face some of the same challenges as heteronormative families, there are also unique ones. That combination of the beauty in the many different permutations of queer families and the challenges that we face was what I wanted to highlight in my fairy tale retelling.

Queer families deserve to see ourselves depicted in the fantastical world of a fairy tale in all the fullness of the many ways we can be. I wanted to be able to sit down with my goddaughter and say, “Let me tell you a beautiful fairy tale set on another planet in another time far far away” and have her see her own reality reflected within the magic. While of course I want these little ones to hear the message “you can love whoever you love,” I also want them to see queer families wrestling with issues that go beyond our queerness. Where the central conflict is not, “I’m queer.” Because for children growing up in queer or allied families that should hopefully never be a conflict. So instead, let’s see a queer-affirming culture and family tackle a conflict. How do we do that? What does it look like? In the case of Bloemetje, the central conflict is, “oh no I’m participating in colonizing…now what?”

Fairy tales at their best are an amazing combination of beauty and grotesque. The princess in a silken dress pricking her finger on a spinning needle and going into a coma. The amazing edible gingerbread house that hides a witch who is planning to eat you. In Bloemetje, there’s a wonderfully queer-affirming society but it also is a profit-driven monster out to use its workers at the expense of their physical and mental health to steal a whole planet from the Indigenous population. Fairy tales wrap an important caution in an ethereal other-worldliness. Be careful when using machinery. Don’t trust people based on what their house looks like. Don’t fall for the belief that your society is beneficial just because it allows your family (or other families) to be openly queer.

I wrote this fairy tale for this rising generation of little ones being raised in queer and allied families. May they see themselves and those they love. May they also see all the ways in which they can use the strength found among their queer families and friends to tackle whatever difficulties may arise, remaining rooted in love along the way.

#wlw books #booklr #lgbt books #book recs #sapphic books #diverse books #fantasy #guest post #thumbelina

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googiesita · 11 months

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talking about representation.

when I watched yoi, i remember questioning my sexuality.

when I watched yoi, my anxiety began to bloom, my depression and eating disorder too.

And I remember feeling so fucking validated when i was watching it?? like, I get people like me on an anime? I get gay people, being HAPPY together without any hint of homophobia? I get validation and acceptation, I get so many things, and I still cry when I rewatch it, because it was honestly, one of most important animes on my life.

I get, an anxious and probably depressed character who deals with self-image, and self esteem, with no self confidence, who is also fat in the beginning? I get a character with a possible eating disorder (aka Yuuri with the binge-eating), I have never binged, but I did have other type of ED in my life, but seeing myself in him, how the show represented his anxiety, was... amazing, to me honestly, it made me felt seen.

It made me felt represented.

Like, imagine you're me, I got told maybe it was a phase, that every woman thought they liked girls, that I shouldn't be close-minded in regards of my sexuality (meaning, I shouldn't say ''I would never like men'') I felt terrible, I knew what I was, I knew what I liked.

And then seeing them, both Viktor and Yuuri being so free? Being so incredibly in love, without homophobia in the show, goddamn, that did something to me.

I see them, being okay with who they are, I see them, in their twenties, with a healthy relationship, WITH PEOPLE SUPPORTING THEM, fuck, I always thought that I would had to hide my whole life, the parents of my first girlfriend told me I was a bad influence, that I shouldn't be around her daughter, you know what that does to a 11 year old? (yes I did had a relationship when I was only 11, LMAO), it ruined me.

So now seeing them,

Just makes me so happy.

Thank you, Yuri on Ice, for showing me that it's okay to be the way I am, thank you for helping me accept the fact that I was a lesbian.

#yuri on ice #yoi #viktuuri #yuuri katsuki #katsuki yuuri #viktor nikiforov #victor nikiforov #i got emotional #ed mention

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thebigbrightsun · 2 years

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MIYA POSTING

IT WOULDN’T LET ME TYPE ENOUGH TO REALLY SAY ANYTHING I WANTED TO IN THE FUCKIN. COMMENTS?? so i am just gonna make a post and tag mr. @yymiya who asked. So. INFO ON MY OCS!! specifically Miya because she is my baby and i’ve been drawing her for a year now

so these two are Miya (left) and river (right). Their pronouns are she/purr and they/he respectively. i made Miya last year in english because i was bored and remembered a conversation i had with a friend (who wears hijab)(i do not) which was basically just how would a catgirl wear a hijab? they would obviously just wrap their ears because it seems like kind of a hassle to cut out ear holes in every scarf you own and most hijabis cover their ears anyway, but if they had a tail would they wrap it? if catgirls were common enough would there be specially made clothes for them so they could cover their tail in a sleeve or something? we decided that its up to the person (like most things) but it’s probably not that common.. Anyway Miya doesn’t even have a tail in the main universe HAHA but it was an important question to answer i felt

i made River much later, in about april of this year? i thought Miya needed a skater boy friend (not boyfriend, as she is a lesbian🫶) so i made them also during class. to be honest i don’t have much of a story for either of them but they were really fun to draw messing around on my papers, i’m sure my teachers were sick of them lmao

if i were to make them into a comic of some sorts, i’d probably make their stories short and funny, while exploring themes of youth and growing up and finding your place in society as a minority/someone seen as ‘weird’. as an autistic queer poc, i didn’t really get much representation growing up, and i think seeing someone who acts and looks like me, who leads a life similarly to me, could have saved me from a lot of self-hatred when I was younger and didn’t know why I was different. a huge reason i still make art to this day is to help people who feel and look like me feel a bit better in their identities, because i know the representation i have seen, even if its few and far between, has touched me in ways i can’t even begin to explain. it means so much more than you’d think.

Anyway. the fantasy au kinda just came about one day when i was in a mood and felt like making fantasy character designs and stuff. i don’t have much of a storyline for this one either but i have a very vague idea on what it’s gonna be about, and i’m gonna develop the story as it is gonna be a big part of my Inquiry Question for Ap art this year👍👍👍

SO. these are their original fantasy au designs. i was actually pretty happy with miya’s first design, but for overall silhouette and posing issues i had to change her skirt, but i thought it looked stupid so i thought i should just rework her clothes altogether.

i’m gonna keep showing people this sheet because i am ridiculously proud of it. anyway. Even when i first started drawing Miya, way before i even thought of the fantasy Au, I had some specific design choices mind. I always wanted her to have catlike eyes, so i tried to imitate the shape of them while keeping them pretty human looking. the silhouette of her hijab is kinda exaggerated and not very realistic just so i could properly communicate the fact that she is supposed to be a cat.

in her original design, she’s supposed to be much closer to a human, with the only distinguishable traits to set her apart being her ears, her eyes, and maybe her hands. i wanted to put most of the “cat-coding” in things like the hoodie she wears, which has a tail, or the fact she paints paws onto her converse, or gives her self a dan-and-phil-style nose and whiskers (AHAHAKAHDHFKBS NOT A WORD). i also wanted her to be younger, about 15-16 in the modern universe, but that’s a difference I only made relatively recently, which you can see in the two pictures above.

with the fantasy AU, i wanted her to be honestly closer to an anthro than human. I didn’t want her to BE a furry, necessarily (no hate to furries, i am the number one furry enthusiast), but i wanted her to have much more animal-like traits. She’s very inspired by Tabaxies but i didn’t want the fantasy au to be in the 5e universe because i have several problems with racist stereotypes in DND.. anyway, miya is almost completely covered in a light layer of fur, has paw pads on her feet, almost has a muzzle, has a cat shaped nose, ears, a tail, and retractable claws. the only things keeping her from being a furry, at least in my mind, is that she has human hair and isn’t digigrade, and has much more human-like proportions, like the ratio of ear to head, head to body, torso to leg and so on.

i’ve put a lot of work and love into her design! while i can’t say everything has a concrete reason, almost every detail on her is intentional, one way or another. like, how she doesn’t have paw pads on her hands but does on her feet because she’s bipedal, and cats have paw pads to muffle the sound of their footsteps when stalking, for prey or otherwise. she also doesn’t need shoes because of her paw pads, but if it gets a little cold she might wrap something around her feet. shoes are very uncomfortable for her. (can you tell i’ve been dying to tell someone about that in particular i think its so clever)

other little details are, i made her headpiece mostly to bring more gold up by her face. it helps balance out the colors i think. the green in her eyes is inspired by my cat! and i don’t think cats can have brown eyes, but it was mostly bc i didn’t want to just give her green eyes (bc brown ppl with light eyes kinda freak me out cough cougb my sister cougb cough). the circles with smaller dots around them on her sampin songket are suppose to vaugely look like paws. i was gonna actually make them paws but that felt a bit on the nose.

i think thats all i have to say for now… i will talk more abt river when i finish their character page. there’s nothing really wrong with their current design, other than the fact that it’s kinda really boring, so i’m working on adding more character and interest! here’s the sketches i did in my sketchbook, i’m currently working on tracing n coloring them digitally

here they are!! also i said earlier that in the modern au miya is supposed to be younger but i never said how old she’s supposed to be in the fantasy au and i cant find a smooth transition to talk about that so i will say that here. She’s supposed to be like 18-19 in the fantasy au, i just think it would make more sense for what they’re supposed to be doing throughout the story (exploration, fighting, potential mortal danger, i think its a bit much for high schoolers is all). river is slightly younger but still around the same age as miya, so same thing for him too. they look really young in the sketches above bc my art style was doing something funky that day lmao

that is all!! finally!! for now at least. (if u saw me post this way earlier than i meant to No You Didn’t.)

#ocs #original characters #character design

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9tzuyu · 3 years

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who you are

note: mostly made this for my own comfort, but i do hope it helps and/or comforts any fellow lesbians :]. i normally wouldn’t specify sexualities on any characters because obviously everyones going to feel differently about different characters, but like i said this started off for my own comfort bcs i was hashtag goin through it.

prompt: basically just reader struggling to accept themselves as a lesbian. sorry non lesbians :(

warnings: heavy heavy heavy on internalized lesbophobia. talks about comphet (trying to force oneself to like men) and wanting to be ‘normal’

thank u ally for proofreading <3

not tagging anyone just because i don’t want to trigger :[

. . .

you were wrestling with something, natasha could tell that much. your eyebrows were drawn together, eyes lost in a gaze. it wasn’t until the third time tony called your name when you snapped out of it.

“sorry,” you mumbled.

“well are you going to answer the question?”

natasha noted the tapping of your foot, knuckles cracking beneath the table. it was obvious you weren’t in the right state of mind to be answering any kind of question. foolishly, no one else picked up on that except for the redhead.

“what was the question?”

tony sighed, his patience growing thinner by the second.

“i asked if your report was done. it was supposed to be handed in three days ago, remember?”

your foot tapped faster.

“yeah- yeah, i’m almost finished.”

it wasn’t like you to be so late on things like this, you were usually on top of everything.

“you told me you would have it ready by today. this is the fourth time this month that you’ve done this. you’re dragging your ass and the rest of us are getting pretty tired of it.” a collective agreement could be heard from the team. all eyes were on you waiting for a reply.

if you hadn’t felt anxious before, you most definitely did now.

“it won’t happen again.” tony blew off your statement and rolled his eyes. you shifted uncomfortably, nauseous from all the negative attention.

you couldn’t help but wonder if they knew. maybe that’s why they were being so short. it made sense after all.

natasha tried making her way towards you, but she was stopped by steve’s hand on her shoulder. you were well past gone by the time she managed to scramble away from him.

your back pressed flatly against the wall, tears steadily falling down your face. hatred was all you felt. hatred towards yourself.

why couldn’t you be like the rest of them? why didn’t you belong?

whywhywhywhywhywhy

granted, you knew there was absolutely nothing wrong with being gay. that was never the issue. the issue was the fact that it was yourself, that there was no possibility for you to ever be attracted to men.

you were sure it would be a phase, that it would pass, that you would forget about it and never think about it again. you tried to go on dates, tried to form a relationship, tried to enjoy having sex with them. none of it worked, no matter how much you forced yourself to believe it would.

all you could think about was how sick and disgusting you felt. and the shit representation didn’t help your case at all. the media hardly ever portrayed a good, well-rounded lesbian character that wasn’t problematic, over-sexualized or dead.

the media only reiterated the fact that you were supposed to want men. you were supposed to find the right guy and fall in love with him, call him your husband and start a family.

a knock on your door pulled you away from your thoughts. you shuffled your way back to your feet, drying your eyes for good measurement.

natasha stood patiently, eyes drilled on your doorknob. if it were up to her she’d be picking your lock, but she knew that would be crossing a boundary. she went to knock again when your door swung open.

“hi nat.”

“hey,” her voice was soft. “you’ve been crying...” she pressed her hand against your face, thumb rubbing the top of your cheekbone.

you shrugged. it wasn’t like you could deny her, your red eyes had already given away the truth. “yeah.”

she hummed, “may i come in?”

you hesitantly moved out of the way to let her through, cursing at yourself for finding her so attractive.

“you know you can talk to me, you always do. why haven’t you said anything?” natasha moved to sit on the edge of your bed. “you’ve grown quiet these past few days, it��s not like you.”

“i’m just tired, worn out from work i suppose.”

she nodded, though she knew better than to believe such a lie. natasha could always tell when you were lying, something you both hated and loved at the same time.

you sat next to her after a friendly tap on the bed. her gaze made you feel like a little kid in trouble. it was as if she already knew and was prepared to say the worse.

“i don’t believe you.”

“well, i don’t know what you want me to tell you, nat.”

“how about the truth?” you scoffed purely out of defense. “and what good would that do?”

“it might relieve whatever you’ve got on your heart.” you met natasha’s eyes and your lip immediately began to quiver.

“i’m afraid you won’t be able to look at me the same.”

she softened, taking your hand in hers. “there’s nothing in the world that would change the way i see you.”

“you say that now, nat, but-”

“i wouldn’t say it if i didn’t mean it.”

you thought about it further. natasha had never been one to judge someone based on the things they’ve been through, the things they’ve done or the things that make them who they are. she saw people the way they were, nothing more, nothing less.

but what if she didn’t like you or see you the way you were? you weren’t sure you could handle the aftermath if that were to be the case. it was bad enough you struggled to accept yourself, natasha’s disapproval would only break you.

“i’m a lesbian.” a lump in your throat began to form and you found yourself crying once more. “i tried so hard, i tried everything i could think of, but i can’t, i don’t like men.”

you coughed, choking on your words.

“i don’t understand, nat! i don’t understand why i can’t be normal. why can’t i do it? if i just liked men i would be okay, i would be fine, i would be fucking accepted.” you paused for a breath of air. “i just want to be normal.”

natasha was taken back by your confession. it was nothing near what she thought it would be. she expected you to tell her you’d been stressed or that you were scared for the next mission.

“i’m sorry, i-”

the spy quickly cupped your face, tilting your chin upwards as a hint to meet her eyes again.

“look at me, c’mon, hey. you have nothing to be sorry for, don’t ever think that you do. i love you for who you are. there’s nothing wrong with being a lesbian. you’re normal, you’re who you are, who you’re supposed to be. you are real. i promise you are.”

without thinking you leaned into natasha, clinging on to her for dear life. her arms found their way around your body, hands rubbing your back up and down.

“you should be proud to be who you are, not ashamed. and if you’re not proud of yourself then please know that i am. i am so, so, incredibly proud of you, sweetheart.” she finger brushed your hair as you continued to cry. “shhh, you’re alright baby. i’m sorry you’ve been dealing with this alone.”

“it’s okay nat.” she gave your body a small squeeze, frowning at your response. “you shouldn’t have to feel like you need to force yourself to be someone or something you’re not. you don’t deserve to struggle so much for your own acceptance as a lesbian.”

you nodded, though she could tell you weren’t fully convinced. “the only opinions you should care about are your own and the people you love and cherish. i know that’s easier said than done, but it’s true. besides, what you told me just gives me something more to love about you.” natasha finished off with a delicate kiss to your forehead.

“this means a lot to me, nat. thank you, for everything really.”

“oh sweetheart i should be thanking you for trusting me with such an important part of you are.” you shied away, a growing smile forming on your face as you leaned into her shoulder.

natahsa smirked, clearly aware of the effect she had on you. “who knew you could be so cute?”

“nattttt.”

she rose her hands up in surrender, “alright, alright. i’ll stop on one condition.”

“what’s that?” you mumbled.

“would you let me take you out for dinner tonight? i’ll show you just how beautiful it is to be with a woman.”

“yeah, yes- yes please, that’s fine.” natasha could’ve sworn she heard your heartbeat quicken and she had to refrain from letting out a small laugh at your flustered state.

“we need to clear that little mind of yours. i’ll be back here at seven on the dot, okay?” a pat on the leg caught your senses as you watched her stand. the last thing natasha heard was the soft “okay” fall from your lips as she walked out the door.

you’d never been happier to be a lesbian in your life by the end of the night.

#natasha romanoff x reader #natasha romanov x reader #black widow x reader #natasha x reader

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stop-breaking-my-heart-telltale · 3 years

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I love that we as a fandom have declared the clem comic an noncanon lmao. i'm curious tho, do you believe clem will get a new love interest? do you think it will be amos or someone else?

Yeah, gotta love seeing a fandom come together to agree on something.... even though that something isn't exactly invoking happy feelings, y'know? Like yeah, the comic sucks and at this point I doubt the trilogy will be much better unless Tillie suddenly starts to understand Clementine and makes some impossibly massive improvements..... but it's nice to see all of us mostly getting along?

As for the whole love interest thing, I'm like 98% sure that Clementine's going to get a new girlfriend in the comics. That's my prediction.

During the dumb xpo thing, Tillie talked about how she's excited to explore Clementine as a queer character in the apocalypse and considering Tillie's other works, I will bet literal cash that Clementine gets a new girlfriend. I don't think Amos will be the love interest, and if he does end up being that for Clem or if Clem gets a boyfriend, then I will genuinely be shocked.

.....Y'know what, I need to get this off my chest and this seems relevant enough-

I was talking with my roommate about this the other night actually. I told her all about my predictions for Clem getting a new girlfriend and how annoying this whole comic is, but also how annoying people are being to Tillie over this and like.... everything is a mess.

My roommate, who knows that literally everything is wrong in the 12 page comic and who I told about the xpo where Tillie talked about Clem being queer is important, asked me how I would feel if she ended up getting Clementine's canon bisexuality wrong, and what if she decides to make Clementine a lesbian?

And like...... I actually stopped what I was working on because this wave of dread crashed through me at the thought of that, and I could actually imagine it happening because she already got everything else wrong and if she hasn't actually played the games and is pulling this shit out of her ass.... I can't even describe to you the feeling I felt...

I want to believe that Tillie would at least know and respect the fact that Clementine is a canon bisexual. From what I've gathered, Tillie herself is wlw and I don't believe she would erase a bisexual character. She knows that Clementine is a queer character. Clementine's bisexual.

Like obviously, if I'm right and Clementine gets a girlfriend, she'll still be bisexual. Nothing will ever change that.

But I'm going to tell all of you this right now because just thinking about it upsets me.... if for whatever reason, if Tillie Walden actually erases Clementine's bisexuality and makes her a lesbian in the graphic novel trilogy while "exploring what it means to be queer in the apocalypse," I'm done.

I will have nothing left for Tillie. I will no longer support anything she does. I won't condone harassment towards her because that makes you just as shitty, but I will absolutely call that bullshit out and then never support her again. I will never talk about the comic again because how dare you think you can get away with that and still expect me to waste brain cells on your comic? Hell, I will probably be so fucking livid that I'll drive my ass all the way to barnes and noble just to return the books I bought of hers.

Dramatic? Yeah, but y'know what? I've never really touched on this outside of a few "Clem being bisexual is important representation and we love it" but her being bisexual means so much to me. It truly does, I mean.... after the dumb "btw Javi is bi, we just wrote him straight and threw in a line of flirty dialogue with jesus so we can have our cake and eat it, too-- the straight homophobes will still buy our game and the lgbt+ community will love us, win win," I cannot explain the joy I felt when Clementine was written as a bisexual woman and that she was given two love interests that meant so much to the players.

Like.... I dunno, I never got any real bi rep in games or books or movies, especially bi girls, when I was a teen trying to figure shit out. In jr high and high school, I could never find stories that has bi women as a lead because I was too afraid to look anything up. I didn't wanna be caught reading/watching things that were lgbt+ because I had a shitty boyfriend at the time and our friend group were heavily religious and judgmental. My best friend [who I haven't spoken to for years now] was one of those people who claimed to support lgbt+ people.... but also once told me that she thought lesbians were okay but gay men were lowkey gross and probably only into other dudes because girls wouldn't date them. Oh, and I'll never forget the time she told me that bi people don't actually exist because you either like one or the other.

That's a great thing to here from the best friend you've know since you were an infant after you've realized that you aren't only attracted to boys.

But now I'm out of that environment and I haven't talked to anyone from high school since I graduated, and I've felt more free to intake all the things I wish I could've before...

I just.... Clementine is important to me for a lot of reasons. I've played these games forever, I've gotten to watch her grow for years, and she's just so well-written and amazing in tfs, and the fact that the writers wanted to write her as a bisexual woman means so much, I just.... even though it's not canon, I can't help but take this disaster of a comic personally. Just from those 12 pages, everything about Clementine is destroyed and it sucks. It hurts..... but I'm still not holding anything against Tillie herself. Her comic is bad, but that doesn't mean she's bad..... however, erasing Clem's bisexuality would be the last straw for me.

.....This turned into a rant. Sorry about that. You asked a simple question and I dumped my life story on you but I dunno, I needed to get that off my chest because it's been bothering the back of my mind.

I do wanna add once more that I don't think Tillie's actually going to do that... she should know that both Louis and Violet are canon love interests, plus Clementine canonically had a crush on Gabe in ANF. I think if she's going to get anything right, it'll be the fact that Clem is bi.... I'm just expressing a major fear I have and what it would do to me, and others, if it happened..... y'know?

#asks #twdg clementine #twdg louis #twdg violet

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a-little-slice-of-fandom · 3 years

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In derry girls, what did you think of the episode where clare came out? Im irish (republic) and gay so i love that it was included, but some of the language used makes me uncomfortable i guess? I get that NI in the 90s wasnt very accepting but the directors have said that they already portrayed it through rose coloured glasses so having michelle say d*ke feels unnecessary. I love the show though and can certainly look past it! I was just interested in what you thought :)))

Hey anon!

Personally I love this episode of Derry Girls! In fact it’s probably my favourite episodes. I already liked Clare as a character throughout the series, probably because I relate to her a bit too much, so to have her be revealed as gay was just like the icing on the cake. Good representation for northern Irish characters are few and far between, and gay northern Irish characters are basically non existent. Derry Girls was this hit TV show that provided many with the first chance to see themselves represented meaningfully on TV, and that includes myself.

However, I think there’s a lot of really important stuff in this episode that people either don’t notice or just don’t really talk about, which I do understand because Derry Girls is, at the end of the day, a comedy and it’s much more fun to quote characters like Aunt Sarah saying “you cannot move for lesbians these days” than to think about the darker side of Northern Ireland.

(T/W for homophobia discussion!!!)

(Also this sort of turned into a ramble about acceptance by the end of the post but I just have a lot of feelings on what Derry girls represents and I feel like non northern Irish viewers maybe don’t catch onto that because they don’t have the necessary context)

Derry Girls, as a show, is so interesting and personal to me because it manages to perfectly strike the balance between presenting Northern Ireland as a deeply flawed and divided country, but also presenting it as a place where people can be happy and live their lives to the fullest despite the ever present danger of the troubles. And that’s a genuinely refreshing portrayal of N.I that we usually don’t get. However I’d argue that if Derry Girls doesn’t at least try and illustrate, to some extent, the causal and very rampant homophobia of northern Ireland then it runs the risk of romanticising Northern Ireland at the time, which I think is incredibly dangerous. I do think that the show is intentionally more digestible and does filter things through rose tinted glasses, however I’d argue that simply glossing over the homophobia would have actually been a bit disrespectful to the queer history of Northern Ireland and could erase the experiences and struggles of the LGBTQ community in N.I, both then and now. If the show doesn’t acknowledge that things were shitty then we paint an inaccurate picture of what it was like, and arguably still is like, to be gay in Northern Ireland. And considering that Derry Girls is one of the very few good depictions of Northern Ireland, it’s incredibly important that it’s an honest depiction.

You specifically asked about Michelle, but I think it’s important to talk about Michelle and Erin in relation to one another, and how they are both products of their time and of a deeply homophobic society.

(Now I’m going to briefly discuss Michelle’s use of the d-slur here however I just want to acknowledge that I’m probably not the best person to talk about this since it’s a lesbian specific slur and I’m not a lesbian. I welcome any additions to this post!)

I think Michelle sort of represents the overt and “loud” homophobia that’s present in our society. Michelle saying the d-slur is far from the first homophobic thing she says. I mean It’s literally a running gag in series one that she calls James “gay” constantly. And the sad thing is that Michelle’s off handed comments throughout the series are incredibly realistic to what you’d hear in Northern Ireland even today. I remember the f-slur being chanted during break time at my primary school, without anyone fully understanding what that word meant. Michelle is a representation of the homophobia that’s deeply ingrained into N.I to the point where it’s not even thought about or even seen as an issue. I mean...no one ever really talks about Michelle’s comments. Now whether or not they had to include her saying a slur specifically to illustrate the homophobia of N.I is not for me to say. You could change that sentence in the script and I think the point of Michelle representing “loud” and homophobia would still stand.

On the other hand...I think Erin represents the much more insidious and “quiet” homophobia.

Firstly, she has no issue with capitalising off a very personal essay for her own gain, shrugs off any protests that this might be wrong and doesn’t consider how her actions may hurt the writer of this piece (who is later revealed to be Clare).

Even the language she uses is a bit uncomfortable, saying that “a real life lesbian walks among us”. Are lesbians wild animals or mythical creatures? That seems to be what Erin is implying here. Plus Erin tries to make it out to others such as Sister Michael that she’s doing this because she genuinely believes in equal rights and wishes to stick up for the LGBT community, but when Clare actually tries to come out Erin is clearly confused and she reacts very badly. I mean, Erin literally says she doesn’t want Clare to come out and demands she get back in the closet, and you can see how hurt Clare is by this reaction. And this scene is kind of played for laughs and I think that straight viewers probably found Erin’s reaction quite funny...but this scene hit way too close to home for me. It’s the classic “I have nothing against gay people, but I’d just rather I didn’t have a gay friend/child/co-worker because they make me uncomfortable” that’s way too common in Northern Ireland. It’s the idea that people can present themselves as liberal and open minded, but when finally confronted with something that doesn’t fit their narrative, their societal conditioning kicks in.

As a queer woman, it was never Michelle’s causal homophobia that made me uncomfortable, it was Erin’s reaction...because it hit way too close to home. It’s a perfect representation of the “quiet” homophobia that’s still a massive issue in Northern Ireland today.

(Also the context of when Derry Girls was released is super important! Series one of Derry Girls was released in 2018...but Gay marriage wasn’t actually legalised in Northern Ireland until January of 2020 and even then it was quite contested by conservatives. Now I’m not saying there’s social commentary here but that’s absolutely what I’m saying.)

Now I’m not saying that Michelle or Erin themselves are homophobic, nor am I saying that they’re bad people. I think that they are teenagers that have absorbed a lot of homophobic rhetoric due to the time and the society that they live in. Although Erin’s reaction to Clare trying to come out was painful to watch because it felt so real, I don’t think her reaction was malicious. Erin is a teenager who has grown up in a homophobic society and now doesn’t really know how to react to this new reality and probably didn’t realise how hurtful she was being to Clare. (This isn’t me trying to excuse her reaction, again I am part of the LGBT community and I’ve experienced that exact same reaction from people, it’s me trying to understand Erin’s reaction). Erin and Michelle have both absorbed rhetoric from their deeply homophobic society, and unfortunately this rhetoric continues.

Plus I just want to comment on this idea of acceptance and change in Derry Girls. Derry Girls is set in the time of great change in Northern Ireland, where people were sort of starting to accept that people are allowed to be British or Irish or both. But this process was messy and it wasn’t instantaneous. And the acceptance of the LGBTQ community in Northern Ireland was the exact same. It didn’t just happen overnight. It was a slow and messy process of change, of people re-evaluating their previous beliefs and being given the chance to grow as people and to learn how to accept others. That’s not to say people haven’t made mistakes in the past, because they have, but they’re willing to take the steps to change. I‘ve always thought the LGBTQ subplot of Derry Girls is sort of a parallel to the overall process of change in Northern Ireland in a political sense. And I think that flies over so many people’s heads because they don’t have that context of the political situation in N.I.

(And this theme of acceptance is seen again in the series finale of series 2 with James! ✨ Thematic consistency ✨ )

Because at the end of the day, Clare is accepted by the group. In fact, we see both the teenagers and the adults actively take steps to make her feel loved, welcome and accepted. My favourite moment will always be Granda Joe saying “you’re a very talented people” to Clare in the most earnest voice. Clare is still loved by her friends and although they don’t exactly know what they’re doing, they do try and show their support for her. They absolutely make mistakes, and they did hurt Clare, but they’re trying and I think that stands for a lot, especially at the time.

And I think all of what I discussed was absolutely necessary to Derry Girls. Derry Girls might be a somewhat rose tinted portrayal of Derry in the troubles, but it never tries to romanticise the situation that the teenagers were in (because no one should be romanticising the troubles). I think that this stance of portraying the harsh reality of homophobia in N.I is equally important to the narrative of Derry Girls. I see my own experiences in Clare, despite the fact it’s 30 years later, so if they didn’t at least attempt to show the homophobia in Ireland it would have felt disingenuous and too “perfect”. Again, I’m not saying that Michelle using the d slur was the right way to go about showing the “loud” homophobia of Northern Ireland. That’s not my decision to make. However, just because Derry Girls is making efforts to present Northern Ireland in a more digestible way to audiences (especially non northern Irish audiences) doesn’t mean they shouldn’t also acknowledge the reality of Northern Ireland at the time.

(This all kind of makes it sound like I want Clare to get hate crimed which I obviously do not want. I think the way that Derry Girls showed the issues in Northern Ireland were perfect and very much necessary, minus the use of the d-slur specifically which wasn’t necessary to the plot.)

Anyway thank you so much for the ask anon! This was much more rambly than my usual posts but I just really have a lot of opinions on Derry girls because it does mean a lot to me and it often does hit close to home.

#derry girls #michelle mallon #erin quinn #clare devlin #enya discusses: derry girls #long post

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the-necessary-unnecessary · 4 years

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Anita Asante is one of the only Black women’s footballers in England who has spoken openly and to the media about her sexuality as well as the amplified struggles she faces as a black woman within the LGBTQ+ community. Her contributions to the discussions about both lgbtphobia and racism in football and beyond have not been widely talked about, so I thought I would compile a list of quotes and interviews she has done talking about these issues.

Woso Pride Month 2020 [Day 5/30]

On what it’s like to be a member of the LGBTQ+ community: “One of the challenges that comes with growing [LGBTQ+] visibility is that each person is very dependent on the systems that immediately surround them. If you feel that support isn't fully there for you, it's very hard to navigate."

On the process of coming out to her parents: "I expected a negative response from my immediate family, there was quite a strong religious faith there, and our African culture. I felt they would worry how everyone else in our circle would respond. When I was back from America, I was in the car with my mum going to the supermarket one day and she just outright asked me. I'd wanted it, to be honest, and I said 'yeah'. She had a hard time taking it in initially, and it took a while for us to really talk about it on a deeper level. Largely, there was silence." Back in America, her father called and said, "'your mum told me'. I was like, 'OK...' But then he quickly said, 'I'm just upset you didn't tell me first'. My dad and I have always been very close. I was so grateful. And I thought, 'yeah, why didn't I tell dad? I tell dad everything!'My mum won't mind me saying this - it was hard for her. But I think my dad made her see that the worry was ridiculous, and that there are far worse things your child could be. It was a rollercoaster and I know it's like that for a lot of people. Ultimately it brought us all closer. My brother is also gay - and out - and for both of us, having each other as an ally in the family has been very comforting.”

On the oversexualisation of players in relationships with other women: “For women, there are people for whom being in a lesbian relationship is seen as sexy or cool. Nine times out of 10, it's men who then comment and that emphasises this threat to women and their bodies. A compliment is fine but understand that these are elite athletes. Often they're getting oversexualised based on either their aesthetics or their sexuality."

On how England can learn from Sweden when it comes to tackling racism and homophobia: "they would not only bring the topic up to make it a talking point, but they would work with other entities within the community to address the issue. They have actively used sport as a tool for integration within society with players happy to share their back stories to help others feel secure and know how to deal with things themselves. We as a nation have a lot of diversity and I think we need to think on the same level as Sweden. We can definitely take some best practices from them and try to implement them over here. It was not always an elaborate thing, sometimes it was the small things like having the corner flag as a Pride flag or having the team march in Pride. Obviously we do a lot of big campaigns here around racism, but it's not just about campaigns anymore. It's also about when issues arrive - knowing the protocols and the penalties for those who go against the grain and behave inappropriately.”

On whether racism and other forms of discrimination in football have actually decreased in recent years: “Over time there’s been this assumption that racism, discrimination, all these things have vastly improved. But the reality is it really hasn’t. We have never looked at how many people voice when these things happen to them. Is it happening less? Or are people not speaking up?”

On what football needs to do to stop discrimination: “As a player I would be absolutely willing to sacrifice not having the fans or the atmosphere for however long to try and shift that culture. The only way you can do that is if you’re serious about affecting a change in culture positively. It’s not a football problem. Football highlights the problem because it’s so popular and it’s on TV, online, it’s everywhere. But it’s a society issue, a cultural issue. Football has the opportunity to find and discuss ways to deter the people who are discriminating”

On representation within women’s football: “I felt, personally, quite a lot of comfort in my teams and in my sport. It’s about people being willing to step out and represent their sexuality, their race, whatever it is, they have to feel secure and confident in that. We have to also place emphasis on allowing those environments are allowing people to be their authentic self, and be able to just share their personal stories and experiences and that’s how we’re going to be able to get those messages out there about positivity and inclusiveness so that younger generations feel like they can move through this world without fear of negativity and negative criticism just because of who they are.”

On the media’s focus about sexuality and race: It’s also important that the media doesn’t always only focus on these things that are parts of people. There are so many different parts of an individual and it’s not just their sexuality, it’s not just their race, it’s not just their education it’s a whole multitude of things. Sometimes athletes just want to be recognised as athletes.”

Finally, today Anita and Welsh rugby player Ashton Hewitt, alongside her reporter and ex-hockey player girlfriend Beth Fischer did a two hour instagram live about race and identity as well as the recent surge in the Black Lives Matter movement. I would recommend watching it all as it has been uploaded onto Neetz’s ig page (Part 1 Part 2). I’ll leave you with a few short quotes though: “violence is what brought us change and decades of unrest are now coming to the forefront”, “this is not just about the criminal justice system, every single institution in the country needs reform as systematic problems require systematic solutions”. I also found it abysmal that FIFA and UEFA came out with a statement saying players would not be fined for taking a stand, as before they would have been due to the “manifestoes of not mixing politics and sport”

#she's spoken out so much more but i selected ones where she spoke about both racism and homophobia #as ella masar said anita is one of the current players most likely to make long term changes in both sport and the world as a whole #also she announed in her live that she's leaving the club so yeah that's confirmed #anita asante #chelsea wfc #racism #homophobia #blm #woso #pride month #woso pride month 2020 #og #lgbtq+

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astral-crab · 3 years

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my thoughts on loki and bi erasure [contains spoilers!]

i have some thoughts and feelings about lgbt/queer erasure in the mcu and bi erasure in the current discussion around the latest episode of loki. it’s a little spoilery, so here is your SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS warning for loki episode 4, don’t read this if you don’t want any spoilers, etc.

disclaimer, i am not bi (i’m lesbian), so i’m not speaking from that lived experience. that said, the possibility of sylvie x loki that came up in episode 4 clearly feels disappointing to a lot of lgbtq mcu/loki fans. but i think it’s not because bi characters in an m/f pairing makes them any less bi. or at least, it shouldn’t be. because sylvie and loki are bi, no matter who they’re in a romantic/sexual pairing with. calling sylvie x loki straight is bi erasure and it’s not okay.

but i think i understand where a lot of the upset/disappointment is coming from (aside from the fact that sylvie x loki seems pretty incestuous to a lot of people, but that’s a separate issue). like all queer people/relationships, bi people in same-sex or visibly queer relationships are depicted less often in media than straight or straight-passing relationships. straight and straight-passing are NOT the same, but i think it’s important to acknowledge that passing privilege does exist. a bisexual person currently in an m/f relationship experiences the world differently than a bisexual person currently in a visibly queer/non-passing relationship. (but! neither experiences the world as a cishet person or straight couple would! because they are not straight!)

additionally, the mcu has historically been extremely NO HOMO with its characters (cap/bucky and carol/maria, anyone?), going out of its way to make sure we know these characters are definitely not queer or gay in any way they are 100% straight what are you talking about, despite a lottttttttt of queer coding (whether the queer coding was intentional or not doesn’t really matter). like, it wasn’t enough for marvel to just leave well enough alone and let things be even a little ambiguous. they had to go out of their way to let us know there was nothing gay about some of these main characters’ relationships. that’s shitty and homophobic.

and when the mcu has depicted non-straight people, it’s felt very performative (i’m mainly thinking of the support group scene from endgame where one nameless background man mentions going on a date with another man), rather than genuine. it’s just a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it token of representation. (and then we get some queer rep in some of the tv shows, like runaways, but those aren’t considered canon anymore afaik, and those characters never appear in the movies, so a lot of fans feel like it doesn’t count.) so lgbtq marvel fans are really, really lacking in decent rep right now, particularly those of us who want to see better/more rep of non-passing characters and relationships.

bisexual characters in straight-passing relationships already have more representation in media than bisexual characters in non-passing relationships, and i think we can all agree that only representing part of the bi experience, and completely ignoring the wide spectrum that it actually is, is another form of erasure. and i think that’s what feels disappointing/upsetting to so many loki fans. there was the potential to see a historically ignored/erased part of the bi experience portrayed in one of the largest franchises out there, and if they end up doing sylvie x loki, we won’t get that.

however, in conclusion, we really need to be mindful of how we talk about this. loki and sylvie are canonically bi. who they’re in a romantic/sexual pairing with does not change that. i think we can be hungry for more/better representation of the entire, vast range of queer experiences and also not erase loki’s and sylvie’s bisexuality. and if we do get sylvie x loki, we still have queer rep in the mcu that we didn’t have before! and that is always worth celebrating. 💗💜💙

#thanks for coming to my ted talk #bi erasure #loki spoilers #loki series #loki show

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aspicystrum · 3 years

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Embarrassingly, last night I wrote an exceedingly long and sickeningly heartfelt email to some Netflix people (executives? Idk) based on advice from #saveteenagebountyhunters. It felt important, so I decided to share.

Hi there, friend.

I don't usually do this, because writing in to a studio about a show that you just watched seems a bit over the top, and potentially just a drop of salt water in a river that somebody has already built a bridge to get over.

However, on the off chance that this email might make a difference, I just want to say that it would be really, really, super-mega-cool if you guys changed your minds about renewing Teenage Bounty Hunters for another season. I finally got around to watching it this week, and I want to firstly, congratulate you for such a stellar piece of work, and secondly, implore you not to leave it unfinished. Not only is it fantastic and hilarious, but I also think it's kind of important, and I'm going to apologise in advance for the length of time I'm going to spend on telling you why.

I'm definitely not a teenager anymore, but I was definitely a young christian questioning her sexuality when I was a teenager, and there was just nothing remotely like this on TV at that time. If there had been, I think it might have been a bit easier for me to figure myself out. Much easier, even. I dislike clichés, so I don't like that I'm basically saying the same thing that most queer people over 30 are saying about new media featuring queer representation, but the thing is, there's a reason that we're saying it. And Tropes Aren't Bad. The only thing that was around when I was growing up that had any gay women in it was porn and the L Word. Buffy too I guess, but I never got into it when it was airing (I'm not even sure if I'd have been allowed to watch it, to be frank) and later on, I wasn't interested in the drama and heartbreak. And of course, because I was a young christian, I thought porn was bad (I mean, it's terrible if you're looking for accurate romantic representation, but it's certainly not morally wrong like I thought it was) and because I don't live in the US, I never came across the L Word until I managed to pirate it in university. And while the L Word was massive and so important for representation and visibility... Honestly, I never really liked it. I didn't relate to a bunch of lesbians having sex and being bitchy in LA.

But Teenage Bounty Hunters? Shit. That would have been young Alex's obsession. Or lifeline. Cup of tea. Addiction. Breath of air while feeling like I was drowning? I don't know. Pick one. All of the above. I grew up going to an Anglican, semi-private high school. So while lesbianism wasn't wrong per se; (God still loved the gays - they weren't wrong for loving who they did) it definitely had to be wrong for me. Because it also sure as hell wasn't good. It was definitely no path to happiness. Lesbian was an insult that you used against girls you didn't like on the opposing soccer team. It wasn't until I went on exchange to France when I was 17 that I met girls who were out and proudly, wonderfully, sweetly dating. It's not even like it was illegal or anything, or that the LGBT+ community weren't tirelessly working to be visible and represented. I live in New Zealand. Generally, we're a pretty open, progressive, liberal country. I like to think that most of the time kiwis make pretty sensible decisions in terms of governance (though, believe me, there's always room for improvement). But, there's a difference between what's allowed, and what's socially acceptable. Especially in high school. Especially when you bring religion into the conversation. Or politics. It just wasn't done. Even in public school, you'd be asking to be an outsider.

So I can't satisfactorily express how incredible it was for me to experience the relationship and character arcs of April and Sterling. A couple of staunchly christian girls, falling in love and unashamed of that. Albeit fucking scared. Their storyline resonated with my queer little soul. I was Chapel Prefect in my final year at school. I was an overachiever like April, and I had no idea how potentially gay I was, like Sterling. I wanted to kiss boys and sort of ignored all the crushes I had on the girls I went to school with. I wanted to be a good student and above all, a good person. I believed in a god. In fact, I wanted to believe in a purpose for existence and God so badly, that I chose to continue to believe, even while I wanted to kill myself in my first and second year of university because I felt like I was a bad student and a bad person. I still believe and it still keeps me alive from time to time.

All this is a very dramatic and unfortunately slightly sad way to say that you've got something incredibly special in Teenage Bounty Hunters. And that's just from one perspective. There's so much else that the show brings to the table. So much that it has the potential to. I could talk about racism, or adoption, or classism, or so many other things that I don't really feel I have the experience or understanding to give voice to, and do them justice, but you get the picture.

Finally, I just want to say, I think I got my first recommendation for this show after you'd actually officially cancelled it. And it wasn't from your algorithm, it was from a male co-worker. Somebody I wouldn't have expected to recommend something like this show. Both based on judgements from before and after watching it. And I'm not going to lie, I heavily judged the title when I heard him talk about it, because I thought it sounded pretty frivolous and mindless. But certainly after searching for the show (I'm kind of shocked it was never recommended to me actually), and watching the trailer, I was immediately interested, because it's fucking hilarious. Now, after watching it I'm curious to know what he liked about the show too. So if your algorithm is designed to target viewers you think might be in a show's intended demographic, I feel like it needs tweaking. Also, I feel like you need to give more than two months grace-time for a show after releasing it, before you decide to cancel it. It's kind of tragic finding out about and deciding watching a show even though you know it's cancelled and then having your suspicions confirmed about you loving it. Very Fox and Firefly. Congrats, I guess?

Anyway, I do genuinely want to say thank you for the work that you do and the joy that you've brought me and others through Netflix. I do hope the decision does get reversed, but it is a small hope.

If you made it this far, thank you very much for reading all of this. You're clearly a generous person with your time.

Sincerely,

Alex

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queerprayers · 3 years

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hi!! first of all i just wanted to say i really appreciate your blog (and your instagram too!). your thoughts have provided me great comfort. anytime i see another queer, leftist, christian my heart fills with joy!! i think: ‘oh! there are other people like me!! there are so many wonderful people out here who love God and are accepting and supportive and loving!’ so thank you- for making me feel less alone and for giving me hope. thank you for existing and just being you- it means more than you know (especially as a young (only 15) queer christian). was scrolling through your blog this morning (on holy saturday) and i started crying. i’m not sure why. because i was overwhelmed with love for god? because i am confused about religion and things? idk but it was a weirdly intense feeling- like a cry i needed. anyways, i hope you are having a wonderful day and that your easter is full of love and hope and all the wonderful things!

i did have a few questions for you (i guess they’re questions?? or just asking for your opinion). no pressure to respond btw

1) (i’m a lesbian) and i’m afraid i’ll never find another queer girl who loves God/is christian/is religious who will also love me. i want to have a relationship with someone who not only understands the struggle of being a queer christian, but someone who can help me learn and grow in my faith. i’m just afraid that i’m asking too much and i’ll never find that.

2) i often feel ashamed(?) of being a christian. even though i am one, whenever i hear “christian” i don’t think of very nice and accepting people. i feel like people like you are in the minority(?). and so i almost never talk about my religion or anything because i am afraid people will assume I am homophobic/transphobic/racist/misogynistic/slut shaming. i feel bad for feeling this way though.

3) (last one 😅 ) what is the difference between religion and spirituality? and how can i, as a christian, explore spirituality?

I’m finally answering this so thank you for your patience! I relate so much to that joy of finding someone else like us— it’s exactly what I felt when I discovered queer Christian communities online! I’m so happy that I can give you that comfort and recognition— it’s all I want. I’m sorry I made you cry but I hope it was what you needed and I’m so happy you’re processing and stuff! Being overwhelmed and confused are two emotions I am intensely familiar with.

I had a lovely Easter, thank you! I hope yours was wonderful as well <3 Thanks for numbering your questions :) This is perfect, and here are some answers/thoughts:

1) I relate! And I’m sure so many others do too! When religion is important in your life, it can be hard to find someone who’s on the same page. And when you’re queer, that adds a whole ‘nother layer, doesn’t it? My last relationship (and my only serious one) is a testament to the fact that there is hope! She was an absolutely lovely lesbian Christian and we talked about faith a lot. She really changed how I thought about faith and even though we’re not together anymore (for tragic backstory/mental health reasons), I still hold close the spiritual growth I went through with her! There are people out there to connect with, even if being queer can be a really lonely experience. I met her through Lex, which is a really cool app. :) Also, we’re both so young! There’s so much beautiful time for us to grow and meet new people, and I have hope for both of us. <3 You know what you want, and you deserve that. Wishing you luck!

2)THIS THIS THIS! Listen, every time I’m in a queer or progressive space, this goes through my mind. And there have been people who’ve assumed I’m all manner of horrible things when they learn I’m Christian! I talked about a similar situation in this ask. Religion is a super hard topic for a lot of minorities, and I always have to remember to respect that anger/trauma, as well as standing up for myself and my beliefs. There are reasons that those stereotypes exist, and also harmful consequences from those stereotypes. A few things: There are a lot more of us than we think. Since I’ve been open about stuff on social media, so many religious people have admitted to me they’re queer, and so many queer people have admitted they’re religious! There are so many people who just don’t talk about one or both of these facets of their identities because of the reception they might get in both religious and queer spaces. You don’t have to feel bad for this. You don’t have to feel bad for not opening up about every part of yourself (especially to strangers/acquaintances). No one has a right to your identities/beliefs! These are things for you to talk about when/if you're comfortable with. That said, the best way to combat these stereotypes about Christianity is to be a Christian and a loving/accepting person. People have told me that I've changed their idea of what being a Christian is, or that they'd never met a "nice" Christian before. Obviously that's a lot of pressure, and not everyone is called to be that representation. But the more openly queer Christians there are in the world, the more we can fight those stereotypes! Go at your own speed, and it might not be till later in your life/journey (or never!) that you become more open, and that's okay. I pray that you encounter accepting people in your life that are open to learning new things about groups of people!

3) Generally, religion is organized/external, and spirituality is informal/internal. So religion tends to based on historical figures and religious texts, with formal rituals and houses of worship, while spirituality tends to be more experience-based and personal, without a set of defined beliefs. Many people describe themselves as "spiritual but not religious," meaning they connect to a faith/practice or have their own personal belief system, but don't go to church/belong to an organized religion. Christianity as an institution and set of beliefs is a religion, but many Christians have some kind of spiritual practice, and some off-sets/teachings within Christianity are spirituality-based (like mysticism). Not all Christians connect with spirituality, though— my dad, for instance, always jokes that he's "religious but not spiritual." There is room for both, though! And I think it's really healthy so have both external and internal sources for your faith.

Ideas for exploring spirituality as a Christian: meditate on scripture, connect with nature, read/research saints who participated in spirituality/mysticism (x), journal

Some resources: The Society for the Study of Christian Spirituality at Johns Hopkins University, "Christian Spirituality and Social Transformation" by Philip Sheldrake, "Christian Spirituality: Theology in Action" by Dr. Alex Tang, Presentations by David Monyak on Christian Spirituality: an Introduction by Alister E. McGrath (1999)

Okay, I think that's everything! Anyone who has anything to add can reply/reblog, and if I've missed anything, feel free to shoot me another ask!

<3 Johanna

#asks #my posts #Anonymous

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sammansonn · 3 years

Text

No one asked but here are my thoughts and ideas about Fate: The Winx Saga

First of all i loved this show so if you’re gonna say some dumb shit hating on it go do it somewhere else because i genuinely couldn’t care less (also i’m not gonna talk about the white washing because Obviously its a shitty thing that netflix has a clear history of doing but just because its fucked up that they took away that representation doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy the show)

the main thing i didn’t like was stella being turned into a blonde mean girl stereotype and putting her in a love triangle with bloom and

wish she would’ve stayed as bloom’s best friend who is genuinely full of light despite having an abusive mom

i did like the whole thing of her having trouble controlling her powers because she was taught to use too many negative emotions

in season two i just really want her to be a lesbian because Please (i doubt they’ll do it though) but again I wish she wasn’t the “mean girl” because mean girl turns lesbian can be annoying (its the cheryl blossom of it all) but idc give her a gf

in terms of terra i thought she was gr8 (but obviously wish flora hadn’t been replaced by a white girl even though she’s plus sized), but i do feel at times she was put in to the box of “oh that fat girl is really sweet and sensitive and seen as a cute friend” in that way that some media acts like fat girls can’t be bitchy or angry or hot

but i do feel like as the show went on she did become more of a complex character, and i especially liked how badass she was with her powers especially in the scene with riven like Yes Bitch

okay things i want to happen in season 2! (aka how i would write season 2)

first off sky

boy is gonna be having a Difficult time with his father being back and him realizing he isn’t the perfect hero he thought he was

and he also has to deal with silva being gone and despite being mad at silva’s lies i hope he realizes that silva Is his true dad, he’s literally the one who raised him and Cared about him

onto riven (my favorite angsty teen)

so rn he’s obviously working with beatrix and Rosalind but i’m hoping for an arc in which he finally starts to take control of his life, and instead of searching for meaning through others (i.e sky and beatrix) he really works on himself and what He believes and then maybe helps the gang spy on rosalind?? and take her down??

ALSO my boy is bi, or pan, but he is Not Straight, and i Need him to have an enemies to lovers with a guy its so important

but obviously don’t want it to take away from Riven finding himself, that takes priority

i also really want to explore Riven and Terra’s relationship more? because its clear that in his first year Riven was kind of a nerd and he and Terra seemed to be pretty good friends? like they apparently hung out in the greenhouse a lot and i just think emphasizing that relationship would be so good and them helping each other figure themselves out and just being besties

time for stella

again, want her to be a lesbian

also need her to stand up to her mom and show her that she doesn’t need pain and negatively to power her, and that she is stronger than her mom thinks

just want her to be okay and happy she deserves it

she already had so much growth in the last episode, especially her realizing how unhealthy her and sky were, so i just want more of that

okay Beatrix

can i just talk about how much i love beatrix? because i Love beatrix

i feel so bad for her because she is Not a bad person, she’s literally just been brainwashed her whole life by Andreas and Rosalind

i need her to have a redemption arc so bad

i also want her to find out the truth that Rosalind has been keeping from her (kind of akin to Lila in the umbrella academy season 2)

i don’t want her to join the gang right away though, i kind of think she would need time alone to deal with her entire life being a lie, but overall i want her to be okay

but also imagine her finding out the truth, leaving, and then instead of healing she turns into an Actual villain (because we still need the trix from the cartoon and her name is Literally Be-a-trix so???? idk im Intrigued)

my babe Musa

love this girl so much, want her to just learn to open up and be happy with Sam because they’re so cute

also side note although i do love them i wish we got to see more of the beginning parts of their relationship, rather than them just talking one day and then them dating, idk they felt a Little rushed and wish we got to see more of their development

i also really want to see Musa master her powers more, obviously she can sense emotions and is a badass, but i want her to be able to use her powers for More, because mind fairies are bad bitches and i feel like she has to have more powers to unlock

also want her to do some more physical fighting cuz she clearly wants to do it and i think we deserve seeing her punch people

Aisha

something i like about her is that, unlike all the other girls, she looks at things very black and white, while all the other girls are very good at living in the grey

i also want to know more about her life and her family because i feel like we know very little about her and musa (but we know about Musa’s mom now) and i just want to Know her

finally Bloom

i love this girl so much and also she’s So Hot i want to marry her

love to see her let people actually help her because girl be Impulsive

honestly i’m just hoping for more development of her dealing with her anger and occasional selfishness, but there's nothing major in Particular i want for her besides her being friends with all the girls and to kick ass

okay those were my thoughts because i’ve been thinking about this show for the past three days thx

#seriously tho if you're gonna shit on this show do it somewhere else #because i Do Not Care #winx #fate: the winx saga #bloom #stella #musa #terra #aisha #sky #riven #beatrix

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hankwritten · 3 years

Text

TFComics Rewrite

I am currently plotting an outline for a TFComics, and I want to get my thoughts about fixes to canon and possibly get feedback. Since this is a rewrite there’s really no *spoilers* or anything, so I’m willing to answer all questions about what I plan to do. Also some characters I’m not so sure about how I want to retool them, so if your have ideas for your fav let me know!

Disclaimer:

This rewrite is intended to critique the content/choices made in the construction and telling of the Team Fortress 2 comic series. It is not a personal attack on the artists/writers/directors or any of the creatives that made contributions to this series, nor is it meant to substitute or replace the official release. This work is transformative in nature, and relies on an understanding of the source material to be understood. TF2 and its characters belong to Valve.

TFCR is working on the assumption that the audience has read the original comic, and as such will skip over scenes and plot points that are unchanged from the original. I don’t think it needs to be said, but this fanfiction will not make sense if you are not familiar with the source.

I also recognize that there are strengths within the comic’s writing and weaknesses within my own. Namely, that Valve writers are gods in the realm of comedy, and I’d rather not try to match them in the regard. As such, I will state up front that these will not be as funny as the TFComics. That is not to say there won’t be jokes (either ones transplanted from the source or some of my own) or that the tone of this will be terribly grimdark, only that my focus will be on improving story structure and character development as those are what appeal to me.

The Broad Strokes

The goal of TFCR is to give a more engaging story for all the mercenaries we know and love, as--let’s face it--the TF2 mercs are side characters in their own damn story. These are some of the planned improvements.

There will be reason for each of the mercs to actually be there. As it stands, the motivations for almost every character besides Pauling and Saxton Hale are vague and unsatisfying. We’d usually say something along the lines of “money” for hired killers, but clearly Scout doesn’t even know if they’re getting paid, and some of the other characters are even worse. The hunt for the Australium is, therefore, boring. MacGuffins usually are, but at the very least the characters should care about the item even if the audience doesn’t. This work aims to give each of the nine mercs a motive and a reason to be in the story instead of just replaceable joke dispensers.

Explain what “Team Fortress” means, and how it relates to RED and BLU. Long and short: the nine mercenaries we see on the team are not from either RED or BLU but rotate between the two, and were the individuals selected to fight the robots. That means all things do happen to all characters. As Valve pretty much goes with “whatever is funniest at the time”, it’s very hard to make a cohesive theory about “where the hell is BLU team?”, but I’ll do my damndest. We’ll also examine Team Fortress’s relationship with the other capital T Teams, and why they’re considered the “rejects” of the bunch.

Comics 1 & 2 will be removed from the timeline as they serve no purpose, only taking what needs to be known about the plot’s setup and jumping straight to A Cold Day in Hell.

We will introduce the Classic Mercs right away so they can generate threat and play against the TF mercs when they do actually meet head to head.

We will not be killing off Gray Mann. (Not preemptively anyway.) In fact, there will be more focus on him and Olivia as villains facing off against the Admin, providing her foil as the TF2 and TFC mercs provide foils for each other.

I considered waiting until the final comic was out to begin working on this, but that may never happen. Jay Pinkerton said he may reveal what plot they had in store eventually, but considering it took Half Life over a decade to get the “I was once a Valve writer but my NDA has expired and now I can go buck wild” treatment, I’m not holding my breath. The main reason I wanted to do this is that the Administrator’s motivations are not interestingly foreshadowed, to the point where there aren’t even any good fan theories out there. That said, WritingDispenser and Riddle of the Sphinx helped come up with a pretty fun one, which was actually the inspiration for me to get off my butt and start plotting this.

There will be no queerbaiting. This refers both to HeavyMedic (which has been simultaneously used as wink wink nudge nudge joke many times and as encouragement for fans to play their stupid hat game) as well as lesbian Pauling (since femme lesbians are the preferred method for front facing LGBT representation across almost all media, but video games especially). If you need to understand why lesbian Pauling is an issue, Sarah Z coined the term “queercatching” in order to describe word of god confirmations on characters sexualities that are not followed up on in the text. I recommend the full video on it.

Due to the importance of immortality in the theming of the comics, respawn will not be a thing. Deaths we think should have happened previously will be explained as close calls, or that Medic can heal a short time after death. Medic and Scout’s deaths will be cut in the story itself, as after Sniper died and came back, them doing the same thing kinda lost their punch.

Scout

There will be no ScoutPauling hints. It doesn’t make sense to give screentime to this relationship because Valve obviously doesn’t think it’s going to go anywhere so why make Scout turn down advances from other hot women? I mean I get Expiration Date was a Thing but it feels like Scout’s whole motivation shouldn’t be reduced down to chasing a girl who doesn’t like him back.

He’s here because he lost his life’s savings in bad investments and needs the money. That’s it. Which is still somehow more than his canon motive which is question mark question mark question mark

He, Soldier, Spy, Demo, and Pyro all start the adventure with Miss Pauling.

Engages with Heavy on a genuine level when they go to collect him, Heavy doesn’t blow him off when he tries to level about dead dads.

There will be no DadSpy reveal. The way Spy treats Scout has never been “deadbeat dad feels bad about abandoning his kid” but more “this is someone I would kill without a second thought if I felt like it” which makes his reveal in comic 5 feel very disingenuous. I don’t think Valve even had this plotline in mind until comic 3, as #2 still has Spy seeming only to care about Scout’s Ma and not Scout himself. It also makes “seduce me!” retroactively weird.

Uhhh hooks up with Zhanna. This one isn’t critical I just think it’s funny.

Soldier

Soldier is going to be the Ur example of the Admin not treating her people well, as we’re going to lean into the whole “Soldier was only mildly messed up until the whole lead poisoning” thing.

He’s here because he’s blindingly loyal to the cause. He’s actually going to very little from canon because of this actually.

Might be the reason Team Fortress has a reputation of being the lower tiers of the Teams, but that doesn’t mean he’s damn good at his job. Fatal flaw is that he’s unstable, and even though the courthouse plotline won’t be in this fic, it should be noted that he actually does cause problems for the other protagonists due to his short temper. He’s a risky asset, but still essential.

There will be a minor explanation for the WAR! Comic, but I think that’s better saved for Demo’s analysis.

Pyro

Pyro is the character you could cut entirely from the comics and have the least change. Now, they’re going to be Pauling’s right hand. Let me explain.

Engineer and Pyro are implied to live together, and Pyro doesn’t have anything better to do than go with Engie after Team Fortress is disbanded. Rather than having a reveal, we will see some of what is going on with the Admin and friends early on, and see what leads up to her sending Miss P the note that kicks off the whole plot. However, while Engie needs to stay and look after her, Pyro’s skills aren’t useful here, and they are sent as a direct messenger to help Pauling.

They’re loyal, and unlike Soldier rarely mess up orders. They’re also partially mute, making them ideal for handling sensitive info. Pauling trusts them to handle the burning of “Elizabeth’s” paper trail.

Will be using they/them in the narrative voice, but other characters will refer to them as he/him. I considered going with it/its because that’s bubbled up in popularity again, but ultimately I decided against it.

We’ll get glimpses to their train of thought, but like the comics they will remain virtually silent.

Demo

Demo’s role in the cast is going to be very similar to Spy’s. The events of WAR! involved him nearly dying and Soldier taking the win, and he’s very bitter that after all those events *apparently* mercs can just be switched around teams willy nilly and don’t have to kill each other anymore. (As the audience, we know this is because the Admin found out the “make them so angry they won’t ask questions” wasn’t a long-term viable solution, and instead brought TFI forward as a neutral third party that was pretending to mediate the gravel wars.) But Demo’s suspicious, and is only along because he really has been miserable since he lost his job.

This conflict will eventually come to a head, more on that in the Sniper section.

Is fairly forgiving with his teammates. Doesn’t like Sniper but I’m willing to drop a little angst during that submarine scene. Is glad to see Medic actually. Here to be some glue to hold this merry band together.

The Eyelander will not be forgotten after 2 comics because I love this character concept and I think it was underutilized.

Drunk jokes will be kept to a minimum. What I liked about WAR! and Bombinomicon was that it took Demo and showed that they knew how to make him funny without making him one note, which they sort of did in the early TFComics but stopped in the later ones in favor of him….being asleep for the whole plot. I promise 100% awake Demo in my rewrite.

Demo likes Pauling on a personal level, but has trouble reconciling her with his feelings on TFI.

Doesn’t get knocked out by moonshine because. Seriously? Poisoning the Demoman with alcohol? In what world does that work.

Heavy

Not too much to change. Scout doesn’t accompany him when he goes to look for the secret Australium cache, and he engages with Mags and Saxton (which will be when the audience finds out what they’ve been up to) and actually cares about what’s going on with them. He thinks Darling is up to something. Which he is, he’s attempting to unseat both Gray and Helen due to long family history.

Will at least mention Medic. Their reunion falls a little flat since it mostly relies on Meet the Medic for context, as they don’t really interact in the comic. There can be a bit of a flashback to what it was like as all these mercs broke up.

I know uhhh Valve seems to think found family is really dumb, and that these murderers could ever like each other is silly or something, but the mercs do? Like each other? For the most part anyways.

Bronislava and Yana come alone for adventures, not just Zhanna. Again, no real reason, but sometimes I get to have tacky fanfic stuff in my own fanfic because I Wanna.

Engineer

Engie ruminates on his family history of allowing all this bullshit to happen and just kind of shrugging. Basically Moss’s analysis of the Conagher themes.

Has put a lot of time, sweat, and tears into BLU and now TFI, isn’t willing to let it fall now, even if Admin is basically living on borrowed time. He’s doing this because of the ‘ole sunk cost fallacy.

Also we get to see more of Pauling and Admin’s relationship through his eyes.

Medic

Congrats on being the one merc with an actual arc, Medic! As a reward, you will not be changed much.

I’m actually going to use Medic’s section to say that the Classic mercs will be referred to by their first names in order to differentiate them, and we’ll get little previews of what they’re like from Medic’s perspective before we actually see them fight Team fortress. The battle at the submarine will be more of a fight in this sense, working it out so it seems like surrender is the only option after Sniper is killed.

Final fight with Cheavy will be...not blocked so awkwardly. I mean this is now a textual medium so my work is already halfway done, but still the pacing is so weird. Shudder.

Sniper

These are the big guns. Most changes, even more than Demo. He’s been actually hunting for New Zealand/the Australium cache on his own, and doesn’t want Pauling interfering, saying for a he knows she could have been the ones to kill his adoptive parents.

(She hasn’t, but the Admin did actually order them killed in an attempt to stop Sniper because she thought she could prevent the exact thing that is going on right now which is that Sniper is considering trying to get at it.)

Sniper doesn’t know this, but Pauling, Demo, and Spy eventually convince him to share his findings and help them get to New Zealand.

Spy

Similar to Demo but is less conflicted about it. He knows just because he likes someone doesn’t mean he won’t have to kill them later.

Spy knows about who killed Sniper’s parents, and tells Demo, sort of as a test to see where his loyalties lie. He also knows that Pyro is Pauling’s confidant for certain things.

Demo questions him about what he’s doing here, whose side he’s really on. But you know. Spy is Spy and he was never really on anyone’s side but his own. When it comes down to it, it might be exactly as Scout thinks: that he’s ditched them all and run off when he had the opportunity. But, big damn hero, comes back in the end.

He’s here mainly to “keep an eye on things.” Also maybe because his gf asked him to keep an eye on her son :)

#tf comics rewrite #tf2 meta

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nomattertheoceans · 4 years

Note

I feel like I picked up on most of the racist tropes in Maas’ books but I’d love to hear your thoughts on the homophobia in them

Hi Non!! Thanks for the ask :)

Just an fyi if people didn’t see it, Anon is referring to my tags on this post about death of the author and the importance of criticizing media without taking into account the creator’s intent.

So yeah, regarding Maas. There’s a lot of ways in which I find her writing homophobic, I’ll divide them in different categories to try and make it clearer because my mind works in twisted ways x)

You should also know that I haven’t read Crescent City past the first few chapters so I can’t talk about this book (what I heard isn’t great regarding this issue but I haven’t read it so I won’t comment on it)

(this got long so I’m gonna use a read more)

worldbuilding

I think her worldbuilding tends to reflect a homophobia that she might not be aware of. Her entire world is built on heteronormative ... norms (lmao sorry I don’t have a better word I haven’t slept in more than 20 hours) that don’t leave any space for queer people to thrive in.

Throne of Glass actually got the less awful bit on this one, we’re shown that Hasar’s girlfriend Renia would become Empress if Hasar was crowned, and Aelin’s uncle was openly gay, so I guess compared to ACOTAR it’s better.

ACOTAR gets the worst of this: The fae society is painfully mysoginistic and by extend, homophobic. Mor is basically sold into marriage at sixteen, to a man, without regards of how she feels about it, because women are considered a breeding stock. The Illyrian women are viewed in the same light. Even Feyre is expected to be making heirs when she’s about to marry Tamlin. Yes, all these examples are painted as bad things in the books, but it doesn’t take away the fact that there are also considered normal within the society we are presented with. When the entire world is built around cishet dynamics (whether good or bad), it shows us that queer relationships are not the norm here, they’re outsiders from their own society (btw considering women as ‘baby makers’ is also transphobic but I’m not gonna open that can of worms).

The mating bond in itself is the biggest heteronormative concept in her books. As Rhys explains it in ACOMAF, it is literally intended for couples to make the strongest babies. It doesn’t care about love between partners, its primary goal is to perpetuate the species. It’s a natural instinct that we’re shown is basically impossible (or at least very difficult) to fight against. We’re shown that the woman has to make the man a meal to “seal the deal”, we’re shown that men become extremely violent towards other men they consider a threat when they’re influenced by the bond (by the way that’s toxic masculinity but it’s not what this post is about).

I believe that Maas didn’t intend for the mating bond to be a possibility between mlm or wlw couples, but that she retconned it in ACOWAR. Which in a sense is good, I’m all for queer soulmates! But the concept she invented here doesn’t have much room for non heteronormative relationships, and it becomes painfully obvious when you try to apply the mating bond logic to wlw/mlm couples. It brings many questions to mind: if it’s intended to make babies, does it mean that the mated mlm couple has one of the men be a trans man? If that’s the case, why didn’t she tell us? Why didn’t she spend more time on telling us their story? If they’re both cis men, then why would they have a mating bond, something specifically designed to help with species continuity by making babies? To me, it’s proof that she didn’t think it through, she thought it was cute to have two men be mates just like our main couple was, and didn’t stop to consider how the mating bond didn’t allow for this to happen organically because it exists in a vaccum of cishet privilege where she didn’t think about the consequences of including it in her books without elaborating on it.

We can also see that queer people aren’t expected to be the norm in that society. Feyre is genuinely surprised when Mor tells her that she likes women, as if it was this groundbreaking thing she never even considered. I’m not going to get into details as to why I hate Mor’s coming out (I love Mor being a wlw but really, really, hate that scene), but the fact that she hasn’t felt comfortable enough to come out in five centuries is very telling of how unaccepting the fae society is of queer people. So yeah, there’s a queer bar where she hangs out but like... that doesn’t mean it’s accepted. One of the main reasons why queer bars started existing in the first place was to become a safe space for people to be themselves, so you know, I kinda take it as another proof of how unopen-minded the fae society actually is.

lack of queer characters

Overall, we don’t have a lot of confirmed queer characters. Off the top of my head, I can think about (of course I might forget some so that might not be 100% accurate, I haven’t read the books in a long while):

TOG: Hasar and Renia, Aedion, Orlon and Darrow

ACOTAR: Mor, Helion, Thesan, Andromache, Nephelle

Note that I’m not counting unnamed characters. I don’t consider “x’s lover” as a developped enough character to count as representation, come on.

Out of all these characters, only two of them are in the main cast of their respective series (Aedion and Mor). The others go from “mentioned” to “secondary character” at best. I’m not saying that all of her characters have to be queer, but out of such a big cast of mains, one in each series seems very little.

construction of these characters

On top of not having many characters that aren’t cishet, the characters we do have aren’t very well handled by the story.

Hasar is repeatedly described as being ugly, despite most of the other characters being described over and over as breathtakingly beautiful.

Aedion compares bisexuality to forced prostitution.

Helion is basically shown as sleeping around with everybody.

Mor’s sexuality is kept so ambiguous that there’s debate as to whether she’s actually bi, or rather a closeted lesbian.

Renia barely talks, Darrow is a jerk. Orlon, Andromache and Nephelle are figures of the past that we never meet

This is a problem mainly because of how small in numbers the queer characters are. The more diverse cast you create, the easiest it gets to avoid hurtful tropes. I wouldn’t mind Helion being a bi man sleeping around all the time if he wasn’t the only bi man in ACOTAR. Nor would I mind Mor’s tragic backstory if we had other wlw characters. By reducing her cast to such little numbers, she’s creating problems in her writing. She’s telling us that bi men sleep around and never settle down, she’s telling us that sapphic women will only get tragic stories and never find love again.

In the end, the combination of a heteronormative worldbuilding and the lack of work put into the queer characters we are given makes it impossible for me to not consider her books homophobic.

To be clear,

I don’t think Maas does this out of malice. I don’t think she’s a homophobe who hates queer people or anything. I also don’t dislike her books. They’re a fun read, and there’s a reason why ACOMAF is one of only two audiobooks I always have on my phone! Hell, I even write fanfic with her characters. But I think it’s important to be critical of her books, particularly in regards to issues such as racism, mysoginy, or homophobia.

To go back to the original post from yesterday, this is why ‘death of the author’ is an important point here. I’m not saying that Maas intended to be homophobic or that she built her world expressedly to exclude queer people. But in the end, that’s what happened, and we can’t brush off the critics of queer people and people of color just by saying “well, the author didn’t mean it that way.”

I do think that she includes queer representation only as an afterthought in her books, and it shows. Mor’s coming out was poorly handled because she didn’t consider the ramifications of it, just like the mating bond suddenly applying to queer relationships. Her societies are based on cishet white upper class America and that leaves little to no place for queer people (and people of color) to thrive in her stories. From what I see, she doesn’t seem interested in consulting with sensitivity readers over these issues, and as long as she doesn’t swallow her pride and listen to the people that are affected by it, she’s not going to get better on these points.

#Anonymous #Asks #anti sjm #I guess?#I don't consider this to be anti it's just a discussion #but I get people not wanting to see negativity so I'll tag it #I'm not dwelling on the racism because that's not what anon asked #and also as a white woman I don't feel like it's my place to dwell on this #there are other bloggers that addressed it much better than I ever could #I hope this post is clear omg I rambled on for so long lmaoooo #I'm always opened to discussion by the way!! as long as you stay civil I'm willing to listen to any point of view #pinned post #sjm critical

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aratilightwood · 4 years

Text

LGBTQ+ and TLH: regressive vs. progressive.

I thought Cassie clarified things by posting an insight into the LGBTQ+ community during the early 20th century.

And I wasn’t going to express my opinions, but people are still claiming TLH has, “too much queer representation.”

I’m sorry but this is going to be a rant.

...

Years ago, I wouldn’t have believed that compared to the early 21st century, the early 20th century was more accepting of the LGBTQ+ population. And in a lot of ways, it wasn’t. Given the general attitudes to the community, one can assume they had it worse during that era. I know what it was like. It was against the law. People were caught and forced to spend their life behind bars, undergo questionable treatments to cure themselves of what was perceived to be an ‘illness,’ or even be killed. They would’ve felt more obligated to hide who they were because of consequences that could’ve unfolded, had they been open about their sexuality. While it’s important to consider historical contexts of books, it’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking even Shadowhunters held the same values. But people fail to realise that not all did. It must be understood that the Nephilim never adhered to mundane laws, especially those on sexuality. They had their own beliefs and rules to follow. This can be said for both the 20th and 21st century.

Now I’m not going to run with the idea that, “it’s a fantasy series. Cassie can include as many LGBTQ+ characters as she wants.” Even though this is true, I believe there’s not much argument there. Instead, I’m going to compare the governance of Shadowhunters in TLH and TMI, as well as, how this effected their LGBTQ+ population differently. The reason behind my TMI references is because people are under the impression that as “Alec struggled with his sexuality in 2007, it’s unrealistic for Cassie to show people exploring theirs in 1903.” Therefore this must be addressed. I will also be discussing the regressive and progressive argument due to the confusion centred around it.

Some of these are iterations of what Cassie’s said. But I thought I could expand on her points.

...

The governance of Shadowhunters differed between the 21st and 20th century. While the Clave was still recuperating from Valentine’s uprising (1991) in 2007, it was thriving under the twenty-five years of peace after the Clockwork war (1878) in 1903. While the Clave was governed by an old circle member in 2007, it was under the rule of a younger and more open minded individual in 1903. There was more tension between Shadowhunters in 2007. The community was divided by those who supported Valentine, and those who didn’t. Whereas, there was more unity in 1903.

Ask yourselves this, if the Clave hadn’t fallen under Malachi’s rule after the uprising, would it have been better off? Possibly. Everyone wouldn’t have been on edge, afraid of living the life they wanted because they thought they’d be under constant scrutiny. Likewise, if Josiah Wayland hadn’t died and remained Consul in 1878, would the Clave have benefitted from this? Possibly not. He would’ve been stuck in his old ways, discrediting everything Charlotte stood for, as he did throughout TID.

It’s typical that people living through these eras, would’ve held similar values to their leaders. Malachi favoured tradition and the preservation of old teachings, but Charlotte encouraged reformation and incorporated new laws. In other words, his time as Consul was a step back for Shadowhunter society, while hers was a step foreword despite taking place a century earlier.

And it’s these opposing governances that have shaped the general attitudes towards the LGBTQ+ community. You can gather why one era in time for Shadowhunters might’ve been more indifferent, if not accepting, compared to the other.

It’s not wrong for Cassie to have more LGBTQ+ representation in TLH compared to TMI, purely on the basis of what society was like for mundanes. This doesn’t necessarily dictate that some Shadowhunters should be less open about their sexuality, as apposed to others, simply because they lived in different eras. We must consider the individual circumstances of each character.

TMI

(1) Alec was born into a conservative family with the burden of being the first child, and the desire to please his parents. His parents were ex-circle members, who were under the microscope of the Clave because of their association with Valentine. These factors arguably contributed to his internalised homophobia.

(2) Aline realised she was a lesbian early in the series, although she was only open about it through the encouragement of Alec. She was apprehensive because of the position her parents held in the Clave, with her mother being Consul and her father’s disappointment because no one could carry the Penhallow bloodline.

(3) When Diana began transitioning into a woman after her sister died in Bangkok, she had to be secretive about it. Shadowhunters were discouraged from undergoing mundane medical procedures, especially those that changed someone’s gender. She took her sister’s identity when she returned to Idris, and was only open about her transition after Alec became Consul in 2012.

(4) Both Helen and Mark might’ve been two of the few Shadowhunters who were open about their sexuality, because the Blackthorns didn’t hold such prejudices. Their parents were accepting and encouraged them to date whoever they wanted, while their siblings welcomed Aline into the family.

TLH

(1) Alastair isn’t open about his sexuality to his family or friends. His claim that he wouldn’t marry a woman and cheat her out of the love, is evidence that he’s accepted himself. But his relationship with Charles was very secretive because he was afraid of the heteronormativity of society.

(2) As much as we’d like to think Charles will be accepted if society finds out about his sexuality, it still hinders the chances of him becoming Consul. His immediate family would most likely have no complaints, but the Clave is too ‘backward thinking’ to live under the rule of a gay leader. It’s because of this, he feels that he can only achieve his goals by marrying an influential woman.

(3) Despite belonging to an understanding family, Thomas has been introverted, shy and closeted for most of his life. While his reason for being less open about his sexuality is similar to Alastair’s, he also mentions that he would rather have one romantic partner instead of several flings. Up until the end of CHOG, he believed this person was Alastair.

(4) Even though people claim Matthew has a bad reputation, it isn’t clear whether or not society is aware of his sexuality. But his close friends are e.g. James who mentions finding him in bed with men and women, as well as, Anna who accompanies him to secret societies. However, there’s no indication that his family knows.

(5) Being a woman of colour who is adopted into a British family that holds high positions in the Clave, you can understand why Ariadne has never felt comfortable about her sexuality. Her circumstances are similar to Charles’, but while his actions are influenced by the drive to be a good leader, hers are shaped by the appeasement and acceptance from society.

(6) Anna is perhaps the only one who is completely open about her sexuality to friends, family and society. This is clear in her choosing to have a bohemian lifestyle by not conforming to gender norms, and freely dating girls. It’s because of this, others are discouraged from socialising with her. But people often forget that throughout EET, she was dressing in her brother’s clothes, sneaking out at night and wary about what her parents thought. Her story hasn’t been easy.

If we think about it, there’s only a slight difference in the number of LGBTQ+ characters in TMI and TLH. What can be concluded from this is, no matter how much or less representation there is, Cassie’s done right by showing those who were open about their sexuality and those who weren’t. As much as people like to complain about it, both existed regardless of the context. Therefore, it’s wrong to exclude one or the other.

Finally, not everything is black and white. Not all Shadowhunters were generally progressive in the early 21st century, but it’s a sweeping statement to make by saying all of them should be regressive in the early 20th century because of the situation in the mundane world. It’s true that various attitudes and norms are shared between Nephilim and humans, but progressiveness and regressiveness isn’t always dependant on dates in history, especially if what’s happening in mundane society isn’t reflective of what’s happening among Shadowhunters.

...

I haven’t mentioned any LGBTQ+ Downworlders, because people have mainly been concerned about representation among Shadowhunters. Also, please correct me if I’m wrong, but I think Cassie has only explored Downworlders that are generally open about their sexuality.

If anyone’s wondering which post of hers I’ve been referring to, it’s this one.

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